Converse magnetoelectric effect in PZT/NiFe/CoFe nanocomposites

Magnetoelectric effect has attracted considerable interest due to the promising approach towards novel spintronics device. In this work, we study the converse magnetoelectric properties of PZT/NiFe/CoFe nanocomposites in which the piezoelectric substrate is transversely polarised and the thickness of the NiFe layer is varied. In these structures, the magnetic behaviour significantly changes under an applied voltage thanks to magnetoelectric coupling between the layers. By changing the NiFe thickness, this change in magnetisation reaches up to 245% at low bias magnetic field. Besides, the investigation of voltage controlled magnetisation switching is expounded. These results are discussed in term of a stress–induced anisotropy field model and magnetoelectric coupling between two phases.